Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- As fuel prices continue to soar,
airlines are studying new technology that may save more than
$200,000 per jet every year. The breakthrough only sounds
mundane: It’s all about how planes taxi.

Travelers are familiar with the sight of low-slung airport
tugs pushing aircraft away from the gate so the main jet engines
can crank up safely. Thrust from the kerosene-slurping turbofans
then powers planes into position for takeoff.

Now, equipment makers such as Honeywell International Inc.
are devising electric motors that weigh about as much as V-8s in
Chevrolet Corvettes yet pack enough torque to move 180,000-pound
(81,650-kilogram) jets, letting pilots taxi without relying on
main engines or diesel tractors.

“You could have tug-less airports,” said Ian Davies,
chief of engineering and maintenance for EasyJet Plc, Britain’s
largest discount airline. “It might fundamentally change how we
operate in airports.”

Taxiing on electric power is an example of how technology,
in this case motors so small they fit in the hub of a jet’s nose
wheel, can revolutionize something as routine as an airliner’s
journey between the terminal and the runway.

“It’s a simple concept, but it’s complex to integrate into
an aircraft,” said Olivier Savin, chief of Safran SA’s Green
Taxiing System Joint Venture with Honeywell. “Integration is
the key to success.”

Airbus, EasyJet

The prospect of annual savings topping $200,000 a jet from
lower fuel use and less ground time has stirred interest from
planemaker Airbus SAS and airlines such as EasyJet and Alitalia
SpA. The first new aircraft with electric-taxi technology may be
in production in as few as three years, and older planes may get
the gear as soon as 2013.

Airlines face the highest sustained prices ever for jet
kerosene, the industry’s largest cost, based on data compiled by
Bloomberg. United Continental Holdings Inc., the world’s biggest
carrier, says it burns $25,000 of fuel a minute. Jet fuel for
immediate delivery in New York Harbor has averaged $3.12 a
gallon in 2012, more than four times as much as a decade ago.

Taxiing on one engine has become a common fuel-saving
practice for twin-engine jets in recent years, and planes
already make electricity when they’re at the gate by running
small turbine engines known as auxiliary power units.

What’s new today is the convergence of airlines’ hunger for
more efficiency and recent advances in miniaturizing electric
motors to propel a plane at the 20 miles (32 kilometers) per
hour it may need for taxiing.

How Heavy?

The Honeywell-Safran team estimates its unit would weigh a
maximum of 880 pounds, while startup WheelTug Plc said its
electric-taxi technology is only about 300 pounds. Another
entry, a venture between L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. and
Crane Co., isn’t commenting on the heft of its system.

WheelTug’s motor fits in the hub of a jet’s front wheel and
is just 5 inches wide, Chief Executive Officer Isaiah Cox said.
That’s half as broad as two years ago, when the Gibraltar-based
company still had to attach the motors outside the hub, he said.

“It’s like packaging an elephant into the nose wheel of an
airplane,” Cox said.

That would eliminate the cost of a push-back from a tug,
which runs $50 to $150, and the consumption of about 55 gallons
of fuel taxiing before and after takeoff, based on average burn
rates and ground times at U.S. airports, Cox said.

WheelTug says its system may save about $500,000 a plane
annually, including benefits such as less wear on engines.

Eliminating Tugs

Honeywell and Paris-based Safran say the savings may exceed
$200,000 per plane a year by paring fuel use and ground time,
and eliminating charges for tugs’ services. Stamford,
Connecticut-based Crane also says taxiing on electricity would
cut noise, reduce emissions and shrink the risk of having a
jet’s main engines ingest tarmac debris.

Meshing small electric motors and new cockpit controls
won’t be the only challenge for Morris Township, New Jersey-based Honeywell and its rivals.

Suppliers will have to convince airlines that the savings
will make up for the extra fuel burned in flight from the
equipment’s added weight, said Tim Campbell, president of St.
Paul, Minnesota-based Mountain Vista Consulting and the former
chief of regional operations for Northwest Airlines Corp.

Airport tugs also would need to be on hand in case a
plane’s APU fails, Campbell said in a telephone interview.

Boeing, Airbus

Airbus is talking with “potential suppliers” for an
electric taxi system, Martin Fendt, a spokesman, said in a
telephone interview, without identifying them. “It’s certainly
something we’re keen to see where the potential is.”

WheelTug’s focus is to fit its electric-taxi system to
existing jets, and it has installation agreements with Alitalia
and El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. The company has a target of late
2013 to get the first units onto planes.

The Honeywell/Safran and L-3/Crane groups are concentrating
instead on persuading planemakers to adopt the technology for
new aircraft. Their systems drive the main landing gear.
Honeywell and Safran expect to run trials with a Safran-owned
Airbus A320 by mid-2013. L-3 and Crane tested their team’s unit
in December on a Deutsche Lufthansa AG A320.

Airlines have powerful incentives to act, said Scott
Whitfill, who oversees about 70 tugs as North America
maintenance director for Worldwide Flight Services.

‘Not Cheap’

“If airplanes were able essentially to back themselves out
and I didn’t have to supply a push-back tractor, that would
impact the cost of my handling for the airline,” Whitfill said
in a telephone interview. “Push-backs are not cheap.”

Savings from the electric motors would be greatest on
single-aisle jets such as the A320 and Boeing’s 737, whose
frequent short-haul flights mean more time taxiing. Wide-bodies
land and take off less often because they fly longer routes.

“It’s huge,” said Rick Jones, vice president of Crane’s
aerospace unit. “It’s looking to us like it’s going to be a
compelling value proposition for the airlines.”

Davies of Luton, England-based EasyJet is convinced. The
carrier’s 215-plane fleet consists entirely of jets from the
A320 family. That makes it one of the airlines that would
benefit from electric taxi, and it’s preparing to test the
Honeywell-Safran system.

“There’s no doubt to me that the technology is there. It
will work,” Davies said. “Let’s say 40 years from now, maybe
all aircraft will have this.”